One Safe Place
by saxgirl42
Summary: He knew he had to go somewhere to rest, somewhere safe... An injured Gokudera takes refuge in a rather unlikely place.


**A/N:** I whipped this up pretty fast and I'm still not sure if I like it, but I figure I'll post it anyway. It's just a little drabble focusing on two of my favorite KHR characters. I mainly wrote it for the song because I think the lyrics are great and I've always wanted to write a fic to go with them, and for some reason today I realized that I could use them for Gokudera and Yamamoto, so...

... Voila! :D

In my mind, I'm setting this about... mm... three-four years after the Millefiore incident? So they're older, and they've been mafia-ing (yes it's a verb) for a while.

That's pretty much all I want to say! Just read and enjoy and know that I would appreciate some feedback! Thanks, guys!

**Disclaimer:** "Katekyo Hitman Reborn!" and all characters are (c) Amano Akira, and the song and lyrics are (c) Marc Cohn.

o-o-o

**One Safe Place**

o-o-o

_How many roads you've travelled_

_How many dreams you've chased_

_Across sand and sky and gravel_

_Looking for one safe place_

o-o-o

The blood trickled down his side in a weak stream, leaving a trail of small scarlet puddles behind him. He worried for a moment about pursuers, then remembered that he had killed them all.

His vision blurred and he almost fell, but he managed to catch himself with the hand that was not clutching the wound in his side. He knew he had to go somewhere to rest, somewhere safe. He couldn't wander around with these injuries for much longer or he'd end up collapsing in a gutter somewhere where either a pedestrian would find him, or he would bleed to death.

Either situation would be problematic.

He figured he could head to the Tenth's. It should be safe there, right? The Tenth would watch over him, and Reborn was sure to be there, as well. It couldn't get much safer than that.

But then... he balked at bringing any trouble to the Tenth's house, even if that trouble _was_ a bleeding Guardian. It was too dangerous to merely assume that no one was following him. He couldn't take the chance of leading even one of those bastards he had been fighting earlier to the boss's _home_. That was unthinkable.

So... not the Tenth's place. Fine.

He supposed he could go see Shamal, but he had his doubts about whether or not the doctor would actually treat him. After all, he wasn't exactly on death's doorstep, and he wasn't female. A bad combination when looking for help from Shamal.

So not the pervert doctor either, then.

He wandered aimlessly as he thought of his possibilities. Faces flashed through his mind as sparks flashed in his vision, and he knew he was going to faint soon, but he shoved it from his mind. He would make it to wherever he was going. He had to.

The faces running through his mind stopped when he found himself standing outside of a familiar sushi shop.

Yamamoto.

Of course. The idiot _had_ to take him in. And as much as it pained him to think of asking his rival for help, he didn't have much of a choice.

He stumbled up to the front door, gritting his teeth against the pain and the shame of leaving the little blood trail Yamamoto's father was sure to see in the morning.

But that didn't matter now. All that mattered was getting inside so he didn't have to face the embarrassment of fainting on Yamamoto's front step.

He knocked on the door sharply, not particularly caring whether or not it was rude to knock on someone's door at 3 o'clock in the morning.

No one answered for a very long time.

He leaned against the door, the wood feeling cool against his warm, sweating forehead. He closed his eyes. Maybe he could just stay here for the night... that would be okay, right? The idiot was bound to find him at some point...

He was just about to let gravity take him when the door opened, revealing a bleary-eyed, messy-haired Yamamoto.

"Gokudera?" he murmured, his brow creasing. Gokudera breathed a sigh of relief he hadn't realized he was holding in, and promptly fainted into the Rain Guardian's arms.

o-o-o

_Will you make a smooth landing_

_When you break your fall from grace?_

_Into the arms of understanding_

_Looking for one safe place_

o-o-o

He awoke later in a vaguely familiar room, lying on his back on a comfortable bed while someone fussed with what sounded like a first-aid kit nearby. He tried to sit up, but strong hands suddenly pressed on his shoulders and a pain he had temporarily forgotten about seared through his side.

"Hey, don't move too much," Yamamoto said, his voice tinged with concern. Gokudera puzzled over this for a moment before remembering what had happened.

Oh yeah.

He groaned and shut his eyes again.

"Gokudera?"

"What?" His voice was a dry rasp. That was unexpected.

"... What happened?"

Gokudera hesitated. Could he tell Yamamoto about what had happened earlier? The idiot was Vongola, too, after all. He should be informed of anything that threatened the family.

But Gokudera had cleared it up. There had been no survivors. The problem would never arise again.

... Right?

"I... I fell," he said lamely.

"... You fell."

"Yep."

"Gokudera," Yamamoto said, and Gokudera felt a cool hand slip up his shirt and gently prod his newly bandaged wound. It hurt. "This is a gunshot wound."

If Gokudera had been able to move, he would have punched the idiot in the face.

"Yeah, so?"

"So you're still sticking with the story that 'you fell'?"

Gokudera smiled shakily.

"What, you wouldn't fall if you got shot?"

Yamamoto looked almost disappointed, and for some reason it made the Italian feel guilty. The Rain Guardian sighed and started to move away, but Gokudera caught him by the arm.

"Fine," he said. "I just got back from a mission."

Yamamoto frowned and sat beside him on the bed.

"I haven't heard anything about a mission."

"It was just for me. Reborn told me to investigate a small mafia family stationed in the next district," Gokudera explained, averting his eyes and silently apologizing for the little lie. Yamamoto wouldn't understand_._ "My cover got blown, and... well, things got pretty bad from there. But I made it out okay so I don't think we need to tell anyone, right?"

"Does Tsuna know?" Yamamoto asked, still with that uncharacteristically serious look on his face.

"No!" Gokudera glared and clutched Yamamoto's arm roughly. "And don't you dare tell him! This is between you, me and Reborn now. I don't – the Tenth doesn't need to worry."

"Well, it's going to be kind of hard to explain why you're injured," Yamamoto said with a slight smile, "but all right. I won't tell."

Gokudera blinked. He hadn't thought the idiot would agree so easily.

"On one condition."

There it was.

Yamamoto leveled that frighteningly serious stare at him again, and said, "You tell me the truth."

"I _am_ telling –"

"I'm not dumb, Gokudera," Yamamoto said, shaking his head. "I know that if there was a mission concerning a new family in the area, the kid wouldn't have sent only one Guardian to check it out, especially not without Tsuna. Whatever you did tonight, it wasn't under Reborn's orders. Tell me what happened."

Gokudera could only stare. He wondered when the idiot had stopped _being_ an idiot. Had he finally realized that this wasn't all a game? Had he finally matured?

And if so... did that mean he'd understand?

"I..." Gokudera started. Then he took in a rather tremulous breath and turned away from Yamamoto as he spoke. "I heard about the rival family myself a few days ago. At first I'd thought it was a joke, but then I listened in on one of their meetings and realized that they were seriously planning to kill us. _All_ of us. Not just the Tenth, but each and every one of us, including my sister and the dumb kids and..." He paused, licking suddenly dry lips and fighting back the encroaching tightness in his throat. "The way they were talking. It was... brutal. There was one guy, this... _beast_ of a guy, who kept talking about how much he'd like to fill the boss with bullets. And after being in the future, and knowing that that's how Tsuna... how he..."

Damn it! Why was he choking up? He had killed them! They were gone now, it was over. Nothing would happen.

But...

Gokudera shivered. He could still see that slimy, wraith-like swordsman fondling his weapon, describing all the different ways he would use it to eviscerate the Vongola's Rain Guardian. Gokudera couldn't tell Yamamoto that. He couldn't let him know how much it had bothered him to think of Yamamoto being hurt, being sliced into pieces, being... killed. Gone forever.

And not only Yamamoto, but Tsuna, his sister, _everyone_...

"I understand."

Gokudera turned his head fast – too fast, the room spun a bit – at that soft confession.

Yamamoto was staring at the floor, his hands clenched into fists.

"I get it," he said, forcing a smile for the startled Storm Guardian. "But why didn't you tell someone?"

"Feh," Gokudera scoffed, turning away again. "I didn't need your help."

A hand was laid gently over his bandaged wound again, and he stiffened.

"_This_ is you not needing help?"

Gokudera said nothing, just stared at the wall. Yamamoto sighed and Gokudera felt the bed shift when the Rain Guardian stood. Soon afterwards, a soft blanket was tossed over him.

"Get some sleep," Yamamoto said, and Gokudera turned just in time to watch the other boy shut off the light and leave the room with a pillow and blanket tucked under his arm.

"Oi," Gokudera called before the door closed. Yamamoto paused at the threshold, but didn't look back. Gokudera bit his lip, flushing slightly. "Er... thanks," he said. Yamamoto glanced back at him, his usual grin back.

"No problem," he said. "Just... if you didn't want anyone to know about all of this, why did you come to my house instead of going back to your apartment?"

Gokudera opened his mouth to answer and then... stopped.

What a good question.

Why _hadn't_ he gone back to his apartment? It hadn't even crossed his mind. Now that he thought about it, he _could_ have gone home and treated his wounds on his own, and no one else would have ever needed to know.

And yet...

"I needed somewhere safe," he said abruptly, and then froze, shocked at his own answer. Yamamoto tilted his head to one side curiously.

"Safe?"

"Yeah," Gokudera admitted grudgingly, figuring he may as well tell the truth. He was on a roll tonight. "Being at your place makes me feel... safe." Yamamoto thought about this for a second, then grinned.

"All right," he said. "I'll let you sleep now." And then he was gone.

Gokudera stared at the baseball poster on the back of the closed door for a long time. He had never really thought about it before, but he guessed it was true. He _did_ feel safer at Yamamoto's place than his own, the same way he felt safer at the Tenth's, or even the Vongola estate in Italy.

It was just because he wasn't alone.

o-o-o

_Your whole life is trial by fire_

_And love's the sweetest taste_

_And I pray it lifts us higher_

_To one safe place_

o-o-o

Things didn't change much after that night. Gokudera still treated the idiot like an idiot, and Yamamoto still laughed it all off, but the Rain Guardian kept his word, and only the two of them ever knew about Gokudera's battle. It was rarely – if ever – spoken of.

The only noticeable change in behavior was Gokudera's new tendency to spend much of his time at Yamamoto's house, rather than in his own apartment. When Tsuna confronted him about this, he claimed it was only because he liked the loads of free sushi and _not_ because he liked the idiot. And when Tsuna finally became frustrated (because Yamamoto never gave a satisfactory explanation, either) the issue was dropped.

Until about four years later.

Yamamoto awoke to knocking in the middle of the night and knew exactly who it was. He groaned and rolled out of bed, running a hand through his unruly hair in a futile attempt to make it neater.

He opened the door to reveal a fully dressed Gokudera, surrounded by suitcases and boxes.

"I sold my apartment," the Storm Guardian blurted. Yamamoto stared at him for a moment, his mind still blurred with sleep, then slowly broke into a grin and grabbed one of the suitcases, tugging it inside.

"It's about time."

o-o-o

_How many roads we've travelled_

_How many dreams we've chased_

_Across sand and sky and gravel_

_We're looking for one safe place_

o-o-o

**A/N:** Thanks for reading, and I hope you liked it! And remember: COMMENTS = LOVE.

Thanks! ;D


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